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Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The Codex ICO: Blockchain Registry for Arts & Collectibles...

Blockchain is coming for intellectual property. Or rather, it’s coming in the form of a decentralized registry for Art & Collectibles. History and authenticity of artwork can now be immutably stored on a distributed ledger known as Codex. This new protocol will make it easier to buy or sell, get insurance, a loan, and track previous owners.

So...high-profile art thieves, fraudsters, and counterfeiters beware! You’ll now need to hack a blockchain to officially have possession of that Monet.

The Codex is a secure and impregnable store of information. If you own a piece of artwork registered on the network, you can rest easy. The original artist registers the piece on the Codex, sell to a collector who can then either keep it or sell it to an auction house, where it will then be sold to a new collector. Each change of ownership will be documented, allowing for security, contract, publicity, and proof of ownership.

Codex uses two ethereum-based elements to make this happen. First, there is the CodexCoin, an ERC-20 utility token which is used as fees for write operations in the registry. Second are the Codex Registry smart contracts themselves, which will be ERC-721 standard. The ERC-721 is Ethereum’s Non-Fungible Token which is soon to be the industry go-to for tracking ownership of assets. It often shows up in projects related to games and art, this standard ensures that each entry into the registry is tracked individually. Keep your eyes open for more ERC-721 implementation in ETH-based wallets soon.

Besides art, what can CodexCoins be used for? Any possession that requires proof of ownership, but Codex is targeting to world of fine art, wine, jewelry, watches, collectible cars, and more. Currently no registry exists, centralized or public, for these assets. 5,000 auction houses will be represented by the Codex Protocol consortium. The startup is focused on the $2 trillion Art & Collectible asset class.

With success, Codex expects lower transaction costs and less fraud. It could mean more liquidity in the art market as well, if more retail investors feel comfortable buying at auction houses.

Biddable is the first application built upon the Codex. Created in partnership with auction houses and industry leaders, Biddable means that Codex will be ready for mainstream use as soon as the mainnet is launched.

The team is made up of notable investors and engineers. Their advisor team comes partially from the success of other projects such as Augur and Ox. They will be making various public appearances throughout the summer, and their mainnet launch is anticipated by August 2018. The project was awarded 1st place at the World Crypto Economic Forum and 3rd at the Smart Dubai Blockchain Challenge. Suffice to say, this is a legitimate project with influence.

The private tokan sale began in March. Token auctions commenced in May. Stay tuned for their testnet launch this Summer. Whitelist period is from July 2-6.